In a typical electronic assembly, a printed circuit board (PCB) is utilized to mount various electronic components, which are interconnected to perform desired functions. In such assemblies, a through hole or surface mounted connector has been utilized to connect the PCB of the assembly to an external system via, for example, a bus, such as an automotive bus. When a through hole connector is utilized, all layers of the PCB are consumed in the area in which the connector is located. In certain products that have a relatively small PCB total surface area, the connector may take up forty percent or more of the total surface area. When the PCB is a high density PCB, the cost of the PCB surface area consumed by the connector can be relatively expensive. In addition, traditional product connectors tend to increase the overall product size, mass and cost of such an electronic assembly. This is particularly true in the automotive industry, where the trend has been to miniaturize electronic control assemblies.
As is well known, miniaturization of electronic assemblies has been facilitated by flip chips and micro ball grid arrays (uBGAs), among other device packages. As is also well known, a typical traditional product connector consists of pins staked in a plastic shroud. The pins of such a connector may be through hole soldered to a PCB using a wave or selective soldering process. As discussed above, such a through hole or surface mounted connector may take up a relatively large area of a miniaturized electronic assembly, making such area unavailable for surface mounted components.
What is needed is a technique to connect a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly to an external bus that reduces the amount of PCB area required for the connection.